TV SPORTS; Two Generations of Reminiscences by Gowdys

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The Super Bowl has now been passed from one Gowdy to another. Curt Gowdy Sr. called eight Super Bowls, including the first, in 1967. Curt Jr., an 18-year veteran of ABC Sports, will produce Sunday's two-hour pre-game show before the 49ers-Chargers game, as well as the halftime and post-game shows.

"I was a big A.F.L. fan, and I vividly remember Dad calling their games with Paul Christman and Al DeRogatis," Curt Jr. said yesterday at ABC's production compound at Joe Robbie Stadium. "He always said Super Bowl III was the greatest sports event he ever saw because of the David-Goliath aspect."

Curt Sr. reflected to Super Bowl I, between Green Bay and Kansas City. Gowdy had been calling American Football League games for several years, first for ABC, then NBC, and he knew that few people gave the upstart league any respect.

"They thought they were from Upper Slobovia," Gowdy said by telephone from his home in Palm Beach, Fla. "I remember watching Vince Lombardi walking to church the night before. And I saw Hank Stram watch his films and talk about how the Packer cornerbacks played loose. He thought he'd win."

But after the Packers' big victories in the first two Super Bowls, by a combined score of 68-24, Gowdy Sr., said, "Pete Rozelle told me there was anxiety that if there were another lopsided game, they'd have to scrap the game or create a new formula for it."

The Jets' 16-7 victory made the former commissioner's life much easier.

"I called my family that night and I said I'd seen one of the great upsets of all time," Gowdy Sr. said, adding that Curt Jr., then 15, "knew every aspect of the game."

Despite the significance of the Jets' victory, Gowdy said the best-played Super Bowl he ever called, was his last: Pittsburgh's 35-31 victory over Dallas in 1979. "So many Hall of Famers and both teams played full throttle," he said.

It was also the only Super Bowl that Curt Jr. attended with his father.

"I remember he called my mom 15 minutes before the game," Curt Jr. said. "It was very reassuring for him to hear her voice. She gave him confidence and reassurance. She was his best critic."

Curt Jr., a winner of 13 Emmy Awards, has always worked on the production end of ABC Sports, most prominently as producer of the Triple Crown telecasts and coordinating producer of "Wide World of Sports." Although ABC will broadcast its fourth Super Bowl on Sunday, Gowdy snared his first role in its production because he had produced this first season of "Monday Night Football" halftime studio shows, hosted by Brent Musburger, who will anchor the programs Sunday.

Gowdy Jr. said the pre-game show will move from the N.F.L. Experience, an extravagant temporary football theme park next to Joe Robbie Stadium, then to the field, then to the press box. Boomer Esiason and Dick (Not the Coach) Vermeil will analyze the Chargers-49ers matchups.

"With two hours you always want more time," said Curt Gowdy Jr.

"I'll be there," said Curt Gowdy Sr. "Curt got us two tickets."

WORLD SERIES SQUABBLE? Will NBC and ABC, partners in the Baseball Network, fight over the rights to this fall's World Series? Before the strike-truncated 1994 season, ABC won a coin flip that awarded it the World Series that never was; the coin flip also awarded NBC the 1995 Fall Classic. Will ABC fight to get the Series it lost? Will NBC fight to keep what it has?

"I'm a contented partner," said Dick Ebersol, the president of NBC Sports. Ken Schanzer, the Baseball Network's president, insisted there will be no NBC-ABC scrap. But he did not sound 100 percent certain. The World Series decision "has to be discussed soon, along with the future of the Baseball Network."

SCOOTER THE BUTTERFLY Attention must be paid each time WPIX's Phil Rizzuto speaks. He is a combination of Robin Williams and Norm Crosby. He has that sort of unpredictability of subject and language. At Sunday's Baseball Writers Association of America dinner in Manhattan, he said: "I'm like a butterfly on the grass, my wife, Cora, says. I still don't know what that means." And: "Howard Cosell once said, 'You look like George Burns and you sound like Groucho Marx.' " Describing his style of sports broadcasting: "You don't get a lot of baseball, but you get a lot of Italian recipes."

AIRWAVES John Czarnecki, Fox Sports's N.F.L. maven, said yesterday in Miami: "The Rams have asked me about Mike Ditka as a draw, but they're also hearing some negative things about him. Mike can be a draw for the franchise, but for how long?" Ditka, still employed by NBC, has recently said no one has asked him to coach. . . . NBC's telecast of the Orlando-Phoenix game Sunday produced an 8.8 preliminary overnight rating, the highest ever for an afternoon regular-season National Basketball Association game. The Orlando market rated a 19.4, while Phoenix rated a 31.8. . . . About all that's keeping the MSG Network from anointing Jim Kaat and Dave Cohen the new Yankees' announce team is a practice game, which will be done next week. Mike McCarthy, MSG's executive producer, said the pair are just about a cinch, "unless they come to blows."

A version of this article appears in print on , Section B, Page 9 of the National edition with the headline: TV SPORTS; Two Generations of Reminiscences by Gowdys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe